


Scattered to the Winds

by Ragga



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Allison Argent & Stiles Stilinski Are Twins, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Miscarriage, Pre-Series, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-23 11:05:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11401239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ragga/pseuds/Ragga
Summary: Chris watched as Victoria seemingly coiled ever tighter, arms clutched around her stomach as if to protect something that no longer was there. He still remembered how less than two weeks ago they had been lying on this bed together, caressing the bump on her belly, whispering and giggling sweet-nothings to-He heard the doorbell go.“Kate?”





	Scattered to the Winds

**Author's Note:**

> Fudge Discontented Winter, her headcanon sprees-for-all on Tumblr, and someone suggesting Kate could have been Allison's mother for how she acted towards her. Then I got inspired. I don't have the time to be so inspired I write a 5k fic in two days. I follow the wrong people. Lurkers lurk.
> 
> Send help.
> 
> (Also, never stop.)

Chris yawned. He had gotten far too little sleep over the past couple of weeks. He didn’t regret it, not really, but… He glanced at the figure beside him, and frowned. Victoria had her back turned to him again. She was all curled up, defensive even in her sleep. He could imagine the tightness of her expression, only revealed in her sleep; when awake, there was just blankness left.

It had been a week since there had been any laughter in their house.

It had been a week since either of them had smiled.

It had been a week since she had given birth to their dead daughter.

Chris sat up with as little movement he could for he knew his wife was mostly a light sleeper. Yet not now, she wasn’t, too lost in her grief and mourning. To see her like this almost physically hurt him. Victoria was the best person he knew. Strong, beautiful, confident, sensitive – everything he could want from a wife. Sure, they hadn’t been in love when they had married, an arranged marriage as it had been. They had known each other from the hunter circles, though. They had respected each other, and had been the sort of acquaintances - friends? - who knew they would eventually marry.

He hadn’t really minded. It wasn’t like he had ever been in love before his marriage to Victoria. It had even been one of their secret promises when they were young, just after the announcement; had one of them found someone else, the marriage wouldn’t have happened – no matter how important the alliance between their families would have been, how much glory their offspring would bring.

But Chris hadn’t. Neither had Victoria.

Somewhere along the lines, after the lavish wedding neither of them wanted but their status demanded, after saying 'I do' and knowing it was for forever, they had grown to love each other. Maybe it was not the burning, all-encompassing love of the centuries - they were both a little too pragmatic and disillusioned for that - but it was a simmering lightness which kept one warm in the coldest of winters.

They had been so happy when they had found out Victoria was pregnant. Chris had immediately called his sister and their father, Kate and Gerard; he had been so proud of their newfound joy. Victoria had kept her reservations, although she still prepared their daughter’s room while only in her first trimester. Chris had privately laughed at her slightly haughty behaviour anytime he bragged of their fortune. She was just as happy as he was, the little actress. Everything had been normal, going so well, until-

Until Victoria had gone to labour eight weeks early, their little girl had been born dead, and Victoria’s uterus had to be removed and-

And their dreams of having children was shattered just like their hearts.

Chris watched as Victoria seemingly coiled ever tighter, arms clutched around her stomach as if to protect something that no longer was there. He still remembered how less than two weeks ago they had been lying on this bed together, caressing the bump on her belly, whispering and giggling sweet-nothings to-

He heard the doorbell go.

He slipped out of the bed, hoping futilely that Victoria would remain asleep. She might not be as light a sleeper as she usually was, her grief numbing her mind, but a doorbell was not something she ever missed. He could see her shift when he left their bedroom with a last look, and hurried down the stairs.

Someone better have a good reason to bother them at a time like this-

Chris opened the front door with more force than necessary, ready to protect the little of his family he had left (please, Chris, let me go with her, you don’t need a wife who can’t give you children, no, you’re what I need, please don’t leave me Tori-) when-

He blinked in surprise, honestly taken aback.

“Kate?”

His little sister, someone he hadn’t heard from for  _months_ , was standing on his porch with a miserable expression on her face, a backpack on her back and two bundles clutched in her arms. One of them made a soft noise, almost like a cry of hunger.

Chris hustled her in quickly, out of the cold breeze of a crispy spring morning.

“Kate, what are you-”

“You have to help me!” Kate cried, desperate, hugging her bundles closer to herself in an effort to- what? One of them, probably the same one judging by the voice, made another little cry. Chris’ eyes widened.

“Kate, what- why do you have-” he peered at the bundles to see closer and- “Christ, babies, why do you have babies with you?!”

Kate just watched him, biting her lip, and she shifted a little as if expecting him to take them away from her. Something clicked in Chris’ mind. Her protective stance over the children told tales Chris had never wanted to hear.

“Are they yours?” he asked quietly, mind jumping to conclusions.

Her sister (sixteen, dear lord, she was  _sixteen_ ) nodded miserably.

“Father doesn’t know.”

For the second time within minutes, he was shocked almost to the point of silence.

“I couldn’t- I knew he would be mad. Since you left, he’s only spoken of these grand plans but they don’t include children. Non-hunter children. I didn’t mean to, I just- I needed to get out, to get drunk, and have a little fun, fuck I had never been to a party before and-”

“Kate.”

Chris was startled. He faltered a little on his place and met Victoria’s judging look for forgetting his surroundings. He could hear her voice, asking him what kind of a hunter he was. Her eyes switched to Kate, taking in her appearance. Chris did the same.

His little sister was standing taller than he remembered but there was a burden on her shoulders which seemed to age her past her teens. Her blond hair was matted and not the shiny colour it used to be and she had dark circles around her eyes, and her clothes… they weren’t what he expected. They were baggy like they had been used to conceal- conceal. She looked exhausted and just-

“Were you raped?” Victoria asked. Chris suddenly felt cold and his veins turned to ice. He hadn’t thought- Had someone…?

“No!” Kate exclaimed, and quickly shook her head. Her movement jostled her babies and now the other one woke as well. The baby – she, it was a girl, oh gosh, it was a girl – screamed and the other one – boy, it had to be a boy – fell in with one of his own. Kate looked panicked but Victoria surged forward, taking the girl out of her arms and holding her, soothing her back to sleep. Kate unsurely copied her movements while Chris just watched and after a few minutes the little ones were drowsing again.

“No, I wasn’t- no,” Kate whispered, denied. “Could I- Can I have some water? Please?”

Chris almost ran to the kitchen to fetch her a glass. He thought he’d bring a few, maybe even something little stronger just in case. It seemed they’d have a long – he checked the time, it was two am – morning ahead.

He could Kate and Victoria sitting in their living room beside each other, watching the children doze. They were beautiful, Chris thought as he got a better look at them. They reminded him of Kate when she was just a baby herself.

Kate gulped down her glass of water, and the second one as well when Chris offered. How could she be so thirsty? When had she last drunk anything? Christ, she had to be hungry too, when had she even  _eaten_ -

“It was just one night,” Kate said, shaking her head at his offer to get her something. She watched the little boy in her arms with something vulnerable in her eyes. “There was alcohol involved but neither of us were drunk, not really. It was something new and fun and- we noticed only after that the condom had broken. I didn’t think too much of it, nothing happens the first time, right?”

“Where’s the father?” Chris asked softly. Kate sniffed, lifting the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe her face.

“There was an accident,” she just said, and- oh.

Oh.

“I don’t know how but- but by the time I realised what was going on, I- I couldn’t. I went to a clinic but I couldn’t go through with it,” Kate whispered. “I managed to hide them from father, he’s been so busy lately, so demanding and his training- I’m just- I lied I had gotten a traineeship from the Caldwells, and I had to leave immediately after Christmas. He wasn’t happy but he didn’t suspect a thing.”

“They don’t particularly care for him just like he doesn’t care for them,” Victoria said. She was still cradling the little girl in her arms, soothingly lulling her to deeper sleep. Kate nodded in agreement. It was common knowledge that the Caldwells didn’t approve of Gerard taking control of the Argents while Kate was still underage. Even with the promise to cede the power back when her training was over, the Caldwell matriarch had been too close to Elizabeth Argent to forgive such usurpation, even from her late friend's husband - even if it would have meant for a thirteen year old Argent matriarch.

“I took all my college savings and hid for a few months. I took some of our fake IDs too and- and-” she sniffed again. “I need your help. I don’t know what to do! I can’t keep them but I can’t- I read about the system but it just- it would-”

“We can take them,” Chris said automatically. Victoria and Kate turned to look at him simultaneously, one with a soft reproach while the other with hope. Or was that reproach also a little hopeful…? But then Victoria shook her head, and that little hope died with it.

“It wouldn’t be allowed.”

Their eyes turned to her.

“No one will believe that I had twins. It doesn’t run in either of our families, and for us to adopt them both… Gerard would know, even if we managed to fool everyone else; and he wouldn’t be happy,” Victoria explained calmly, almost emotionlessly. Her fingers still twitched, and a hand reached over to pet the downy dark hair on the little boy’s head. The lines around her eyes eased a little.

Reality hit Chris in the face. Of course, illegitimate children in the main line was a disgrace. No wonder Kate didn’t want anyone to know. The hunter society was too set in its ways.

(It was one of the reasons why Chris hadn't told anyone the fate of their daughter yet, why everyone was still in the faith that Victoria was pregnant as she had only been in her early third trimester when- When. They would call her useless, demand a divorce, and while Victoria might have been willing to give them up for perceived happiness for Chris, he wanted nothing less.)

“Please!” Kate begged. “I don’t- I don’t know what to do but we know what happens to kids in the system. I can’t take care of them but I just- I can’t-”

“Kate, breathe,” Chris ordered, and his sister seemingly stopped altogether. She then took a few quick gulps of breath as if overwhelmed, and Chris took the baby out of her arms expertly (and oh, how many times he had practiced the move in his head, how many videos he had watched, books read), and pulled her against himself. He pressed her face on his shoulder and felt the thin material of his shirt stain with tears.

“Breathe.”

Kate hiccupped against him, clutched him tight. Chris met Victoria’s eyes over her head as she watched the scene with a glimpse of sorrow in her eyes. She really cared for her children as small as they were and as little time as she had known them. Chris felt for her. He cared for his as well, despite never getting to know her.

“I know you have your child to think of too but- how can I- with two-”

“Kate.” His sister stopped, lifting her eyes to look into his. Her eyes widened a little and Chris had to wonder what his eyes had shown.

“Kate,” he said again, and licked his lips. Oh lord, this was hard. “We- Victoria, she-” Kate’s eyes jumped on Victoria, then to her now flat belly her nightgown did nothing to hide. Her expression was horrified. Never let it be said her sister was slow in any way.

“Oh shit, I- no, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to- oh my gosh-!”

“ _Breathe_.”

“It’s fine,” Victoria said a little distantly like she sometimes now was when she was thinking of-

“It’s not, I- I just barged in with, with two kids I don’t want or I want but I can’t and- and you two- I’m just, I can leave, I can figure this out on my own, I-” Kate babbled, shifting in her place, looking almost ready to jump and run away at a moment’s notice.

“Sit  _down_ ,” Victoria ordered. Kate slumped on the couch, emotionally exhausted. Victoria’s eyes told Chris to do the same so he gingerly sat on the table before them, still hugging the little boy close to him. He glanced down. The little boy was staring up at him sleepily. His eyes were already darkening to a beautiful shade of brown, and Chris’ heart clenched.

Kate hiccupped again.

“We  _will_  figure this out,” Victoria said decisively. She looked more alive than she had this past week, dark circles and pale pallor notwithstanding.

“Do they have names yet?” Chris blurted out. He winced. They had toyed a few with Victoria but never decided on any since they had wanted to see their baby before. Then they had. Now she was burned as per the hunter tradition, her ashes scattered to the wind, both of them wishing her well with her name carved in their hearts.

“The girl… I called her Allison,” Kate whispered softly, and- oh. Victoria’s arms tightened a little and Chris knew, he just knew, that they wouldn’t be able to give the girl up now.

“The boy,” she stared at the small bundle in Chris’ arms and smiled a little. “I named him Mackenzie.”

They sat in silence for a while, watching as little Allison slept peacefully and Mackenzie who stared at Chris with surprising intensity now. This boy was going to grow up bright and sharp, Chris thought. He tickled the baby lightly with his finger and Mackenzie grabbed at it, his grip strong and steady. Chris laughed a little, surprising himself.

“Chris…”

He raised his eyes to meet Victoria’s. There was true sorrow there now but also determination. She shook her head.

He knew.

Oh gosh, did he know.

“We can only take in Allison,” Victoria said calmly.

It didn’t make it hurt any less.

“Why?” Kate asked. Her voice wavered a little.

“Gerard has seen my scans; they ever showed one baby, a girl at that,” Chris’ wife explained. Because of the blankness her face had slipped to, he knew this was hard for her as well. She only reverted to this when she was afraid or needed to focus despite- despite. “He doesn’t yet know I miscarried so changing the records shouldn’t prove to be too difficult; there were multiple births that day and over time no one will remember who did what when records say something else. But if an additional baby would appear… he would be suspicious. We haven’t talked about adoption so he’d know something was wrong.”

Because we all thought we wouldn’t have to, went unsaid.

“I- I get it,” Kate said. She gulped, and made a move to take Mackenzie back. “I’ll just- I’ll find somewhere else for him. I can do that. I’m just glad Allison- that she’ll have a loving family. That I know she’ll be safe. With you. I-”

“Just wait a little, missy,” Chris said. The little boy in his arms was falling asleep again, and he swung his arms just a little to lull him to sleep. “When does Gerard expect you back?”

Kate bit her lip.

“…The next Friday.”

“So in a week.” Chris nodded. “We have time then. Kate, you look like you’ll fall asleep on your feet. Take the guest room, we’ll put the babies to… to Allison’s new room. You don’t have to say goodbye yet,” he said softly. Kate’s eyes welled up, and she coughed.

“Thank you.”

Victoria nodded. “We’ll figure this out,” she repeated. “Together. Now, get some sleep. We’ll handle them tonight.”

Kate smiled a little wobbly. She rose but didn’t leave yet, just leaned down to kiss both her children a goodnight. She looked like she wanted to do more, even made a move to, but shook her head and left with quick steps. They heard a door upstairs open and close.

Chris and Victoria looked at each other.

“This is a disaster,” Victoria declared quietly. Still, despite her cold words, she was cradling baby Allison like she was the most important person in her world already.

“Are we ready for this?” Chris asked, just as quietly. Victoria looked down at the child in her arms and sighed.

“…No. But…”

I can’t give her up, her eyes told him. She might not be my flesh and blood but she’s  _Allison_.

He had seen the depression settling in, heard the pleas, felt the lashing out. He knew he might have some day lost her too if not for-

If not for this. If not for Kate. But then there was the fact that-

“I don’t think she’s telling the whole story,” Chris said. Victoria merely nodded.

“But can we do anything about it?”

No. Because Kate was the one who inherited their father’s stubbornness, and she was the only one who could match him in bullheadedness.

“I want to keep him too,” he said, watching the little boy sleep in his arms.

“I know,” came the soft answer, and he knew then he wasn’t the only one. “We have to find a good family for him.”

But wanting was not reason enough.

“I’ll send out queries through my contacts,” Chris agreed reluctantly. Mackenzie still held onto his finger just as tightly, even asleep. In his mind, Chris imagined he was begging them not to let him go.

Victoria shook her head. “No, we’ll have to do this anonymously. Anything that can be tracked back to us has to go.”

Chris grimaced, and sighed.

“We can’t solve this tonight. Let’s take these two upstairs and go to bed ourselves. We have a week.”

_I want a forever._

They rose together, and moved as softly as they could. When they passed the quest bedroom on their way, they heard muffled noises not unlike sobs coming from the room despite the running water. Chris took in a deep breathe, steeling his spine, and pushed forward.

Kate would come to him, he had to believe that.

They set the children in the crib, and watched as they gravitated together, holding each other close like a lifeline. How can we separate them? Chris thought. They need each other.

“They look a few weeks old,” Victoria commented. She looked at them pensively. “How do you think Kate fares?”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m still not recovered from my birthing… experience.”

…and if Victoria wasn’t, then was Kate? Did a week or two make things any better?

“We have to believe she’ll come to us,” Chris said, even if he itched to go check on his sister. “She will, in her own time. She trusts us. She’s trusted us this far.”

“She trusted us with them, yes,” Victoria agreed, and said no more. She didn’t continue but Chris wondered if she actually meant to, since her voice was louder in its absence. He bristled a little, and felt the need to defend Kate.

“She’s my sister.”

Their eyes met. There was understanding there but also something Chris couldn’t describe.

“She is.”

And that’s the problem, her gaze said what her words did not.

Neither of them slept well that night.

***

The next day they woke up to twin cries of hunger, and when they hurried to the bedroom next to theirs, they found two small plush animals, a beautiful pair of doves, with the screaming babies as well as a note left on the table, saying:

_I’m sorry. Thank you._

Kate was gone.

***

It took them the whole week to find a family worth of Mackenzie. They had at first tried to look at the adoption agencies but it proved to be a dead end soon enough; there was a paper trail a mile long and that was something Chris and Victoria wanted to avoid. They did manage to get their hands on the applications of those families which had been rejected for one reason or another - the less said how they managed, the better. They were hoping their desperation would fuel their will to work around the law.

Through that, they – or Chris, as it was – had found a family number 48337 in that pile. The husband was working as a deputy somewhere in California while the wife was a teacher. They weren’t the wealthiest but they were upstanding citizens – they even had recommendations. They looked perfect on paper to him… But not, apparently, to the officials.

The reason they had been rejected, as he read further, was that the woman’s family had a history of unspecified illness while the man’s career in law enforcement wasn’t the stablest of businesses. Both had equal chances of being killed or dying while the child was still young enough to be placed in the system, again. They had no close family worth mentioning. To the officials, it was not worth the risk.

Chris himself almost put the papers away himself. He even did so, trying to look for others who would prove to be a better choice, a better fit, but for reasons unknown he kept coming back to the family 48337. The man was something to look at with his uniform and half-smile on, but Chris' eyes were drawn by the woman. She looked so full of life, vibrant in her skin and wide grin on her lips, but she had a similar look in her eyes to Victoria – somehow empty while still breathing, living but not living.

He wondered if she also had had a… or if she was just incapable to have a child of her own.

Chris nodded, his decision made. He strode out of his office to where Victoria was looking after little Ally and Mac. He found them chewing on the doves and listening to her read them some sort of a story about animals. He waited until she had stopped, and helped to feed them and put them down for a nap. Victoria had really taken to Allison, and when the twins had been together, she had always taken her and distanced herself from Mac if she could. Chris thought it unfair but also understood. He was feeling the loss every time he held the little boy in his arms, feeling the anger at having to give him up.

He could understand why Victoria didn’t want to grow close to someone who would be gone quick as the wind like-

They moved downstairs so not to disturb the babies.

“Well?” Victoria finally asked, sipping her orange juice. Chris placed the papers before her and she put down her glass to look them through. They sat in silence for a moment while she skimmed the documents.

She, too, stared at the picture of the man and the woman. Chris knew she saw what he had seen.

Victoria nodded once.

They would contact the family 48337.

***

It was arranged in a hush and faster than Chris would have liked.

Just two days after they had contacted the family the plan was put into motion. They still didn’t know much about the family 48337 except for the names they had used, Claudia and Noah, having purposefully kept these little details out. If they didn’t know, they wouldn’t be able to give into temptation later on and possibly endanger Mackenzie. After this, they were destroying every and all paper trail they could so no one, neither a hunter nor a supernatural creature, could find him. This is for the best, he tried to convince himself, and Chris knew he would do just about anything to keep the boy safe.

Even from himself.

He met Claudia and Noah alone outside Redding. He didn’t know where they lived apart from the state but they had agreed on the town in Northern California. He had wondered if they would come, and if they might have police forces with them; after all, Noah was a deputy himself. He was breaking the law by doing this.

But seeing the glow Claudia emitted as soon as she got Mackenzie in her arms told Chris why there were none. She was radiating pure happiness. Her thanks were never-ending until she started babbling at the little boy. Noah had a soft look on his face as well. Mac didn’t even cry when he had changed hands, just staring at the new faces with his big eyes. They looked a similar shade to Claudia’s.

They looked like a family already.

Chris had to swallow his jealousy. He felt like he was drowning in it.

“Do you mind if we change his name?” Noah asked softly, staring at the boy with love already in his eyes. “Claudia always wanted to name our son. I would have gotten our daughter but…”

“You can,” Chris said. He smiled but it had a bitter edge to it. Neither of the new parents noticed, so enamoured with the small life in their hands. Mackenzie was going to a lovely home, Chris knew that, but…

It was hard to say goodbye.

“ _Mieczysław_  then,” Claudia said decidedly. Chris blinked.

“Bless you?”

Noah laughed a little. “Thank you, but I think we are plenty blessed right now.” Claudia beamed beside him. Chris watched them coo at the baby who watched them with a wonder only a baby knows. They nodded at each other, Claudia thanking him again, and left. Chris watched them go with a heavy feeling in his chest. He knew a part of his heart was leaving with them, with Mac- no, Mie-

Christ. The boy would really be able to stay out of supernatural business since Chris wouldn’t even know how to find him after this. That was the whole point but…

He closed his eyes so he wouldn’t memorise the car plates. He listened as the vehicle – a jeep of some sort – slowly disappeared into the distance before he opened his eyes again and saw them disappear from his sight – and his life.

He felt his heart break again.

Goodbye, the son I never had.

***

Victoria was waiting for him in the kitchen, Allison in her arms.

“Is it done?” she asked, and Chris couldn’t help but feel a little bit of resentment against her. He had to go out there alone and give up their son – because he was, he already was, damn it all – while she was staying away, taking the easy way out-

No. It was not done. It was not alright either.

It never would be.

“Yes,” he said instead.

Victoria nodded, a sorrowful crease appearing on her forehead. Many years later Chris would notice how it never went away, just like the first lines which had appeared on his own face. They would forever remind him of today.

He was enveloped in a hug by his wife and daughter, and he hugged them tight. If Victoria noticed a wet patch on her shoulder when they let go, she never said a thing.

Neither of them also said a thing when Allison’s eyes continued to look for something she would no longer be able to find.

***

Kate never got back to them; in fact, she cut contact altogether.

She never came to visit, she never called… and the only times Chris or Victoria heard of her were from Gerard when he was boasting about the powerful and strong Argent heir he had trained himself. The only times they saw her was in the yearly hunter gatherings, and even then she was whisked away the moment they tried to get close to her. She acted cold, like nothing was wrong; like hunting was all that mattered to her now.

They never learned it if was on purpose or not.

A few years down the line, on a hunting trip of a sort, Kate was found gravely injured. She had only coughed a bloody laugh, according to the people who found her, and whispered to herself, repeatedly: “You’ll never have them.” No one had known who or what she had meant but Chris and Victoria had exchanged worried looks while rushing to her side.

Kate had died later that night in the hospital, surrounded by her family, never even making it to her twenties.

When they stood in her funeral – him, Victoria and little Allison – Chris tightened his hold on the two most important people he had left… and wondered. He had questions, so many questions, he wanted answers to but never would.

What really happened, Kate?

Who were you hiding them from?

Why didn’t you tell me?

Why did you lie?

 _What_  did you lie about?

And most important of them all…

_Who was their father, Kate?_

He solemnly stared as they burned her body, watched as her ashes scattered in the wind, and made a promise to the same currents that had taken his and Victoria’s Allison with them.

He would protect them, protect all his precious people. He hadn’t been able to save Kate… she hadn’t been willing to be saved. It was a bitter pill to accept. He was the older brother, damn it all, he was  _supposed_  to be there for her! But he would Allison. And Mackenzie, wherever he was. He promised himself, to Kate’s memory, that he would keep them both safe. Safe and sound. They were the only things he had left of his beloved sister, and he loved them from the bottom of his soul.

And then Chris locked the secret deep in his heart, and threw the key away. The winds felt warm against the salty tracks on his cheeks.

He promised.

**Author's Note:**

> I have ideas, plans... but no time. I'm probably coming back to this at some point because Stallison siblings is one of my weak points and I've always wanted to write a fic where they are, you know, related. Oh well. We'll see. Inspiration, get back to me in August when I have time. _Please._
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


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